The Myth of Representation

The foundation of any modern government is the idea that elected officials represent the people they govern. This is widely accepted despite several inconvenient facts:

• Not everyone can vote, whether due to age, judicial decisions, or other factors.
• Not everyone who can vote actually does vote, for a variety of reasons.
• Not everyone who does vote supports the eventual winners.
• The voters cannot delegate to anyone else any authority they do not possess themselves already.
• Due to the secret ballot, the winners cannot name a single individual voter they definitively represent.
• The voters have no effective means to hold the winners accountable for broken promises.

The idea of representation collapses under any scrutiny, and yet the mythology surrounding democracy means people get to feel accomplished for doing nothing whatsoever if "their" politician does something they like. Conveniently, it also means they can dodge responsibility of the politician does something they don't like. In the US, the Republican can claim victory for tax cuts while turning a blind eye to fiscal irresponsibility. The Democrat can cheer a social program while ignoring war. The psychological feedback loop of statism makes it easy to pick and choose so there is no sense of personal liability the moment it becomes inconvenient.

This leads to a massive double standard when considering government action. We are told that it is wrong for foreign terrorists to target civilians in retaliation for government foreign policy, even though the idea of representative government necessarily means the principal (the general populace) is responsible for the actions of the agent (the government). Meanwhile, "our" government justifies bombing civilians elsewhere because of "their" governments. This is hypocrisy of astounding proportions.

I find this idea of government as my representative insulting on many levels. I am not represented in any rational sense. No one may represent me without my consent. None of us can delegate authority to someone else which we do not have ourselves already as individuals. The government is not you, me, or "us." We owe government no allegiance, obedience, revenue, or respect. Understand that you give these under threat and duress, not out of duty.

The core principle of democracy is a lie, and the political contest is a fight for usurped authority. Taxing your neighbor with a ballot is just armed robbery by proxy. Nationalism is Stockholm syndrome on a societal level, and claiming that "we have a Republic, not a Democracy" just doubles down on the insanity of statist mythology.